I’ve been busy recently building a projection model for the national measles case count dashboard and starting a class in Differential Equations and Linear Algebra. When I reviewed the national map of new cases, however, I could not help but notice a new source of cases in Eastern Illinois.

Douglas County IL reported four cases of measles in the last John Hopkins University update. Douglas County is also home to the first Amish community I observed as a child, a larger group colloquially referred to the Arthur Amish, owing to the community's concentration around Arthur, IL.

It is a more liberal expression of Amish ideals with many members of the community working outside of farming in woodworking and other industries. The Arthur Amish allow battery operated lights to be placed on their buggies for additional safety. Most relevant for the purposes of public health, however, while they have low baseline immunization rates, they have demonstrated cooperation with public health officials in the past during an outbreak of pertussis by participating in reactive vaccination.

Communication and Mass Vaccination Strategies After Pertussis Outbreak in Rural Amish Communities—Illinois, 2009-2010

Vaccination usage among an Old-Order Amish community in Illinois

Unfortunately, this research is dated. Attitudes towards vaccines have shifted in the last 15 years and I can claim no special knowledge of the current attitude makeup among the Arthur Amish.

More importantly, while I happened to be correct in may assessment that the Wisconsin outbreak was centered in the Amish community there, I'm still only guessing regarding this Illinois spark. More data should land soon.

Regardless, individuals and communities retain agency, even those with low vaccination rates. Reactive vaccination is better than no vaccination at all.